When she got back to the room she shared with Mo, Tess flopped on her bed and let the tears flow. She felt sure that Sebastian had already gone back to the ball and found an eligible maiden with which to dance. After all, he was supposed to find a bride this evening.

She wanted so much to simply forgive him, like Mo apparently had Pierce, but she couldn’t let the hurt go. It wasn’t the first time someone had angled for a relationship with her to get access to her brothers, but it certainly hurt the most.

Even though she longed to believe that he changed his mind about using her the moment he met her, the niggling fear that he was still manipulating the situation simply wouldn’t go away.

Her brothers seemed to have forgiven the lapse in judgment, but she wasn’t able to let the hurt go. She had trusted him, but their entire relationship had been built around a lie.

She must have eventually dozed off because when Mo tried unsuccessfully to sneak back into the room, Tess awoke with a start.

“Sorry. Did I wake you? I was trying to be quiet,” Mo stage whispered as she removed her heels.

“Quiet isn’t in your vocabulary,” Tess teased her friend. Proving the statement to be accurate, Mo stubbed her toe against the corner of her bed and began cussing like a sailor.

“Now the whole castle is up,” Tess quipped once Mo calmed down.

Sitting down on her bed to rub her foot, Mo said, “That right there is exactly why I could never be royalty.”

Tess couldn’t deny that Mo would be a non-traditional royal, but she hated to think that her friend might feel in any way inadequate. Smiling at Mo, she said, “You would bring some much-needed life into this stuffy palace.”

“So will you,” Mo grinned at her.

“Oh, no,” Tess balked. “I’m heading home first thing tomorrow morning with my brothers and their overstuffed moneybags.”

“I can’t believe you would say such a thing about Ellie and Millie,” Mo teased her.

“Ha ha,” Tess responded flatly, before adding, “If you want to stick around, you can, but I’m out of here.”

Mo nodded her head as if to accept Tess’s proclamation, even though her words contradicted that action. “I think you should hear him out,” she suggested gently.

“I did!” Tess fumed. Why did everyone seem to be taking the lying manipulator’s side?!? “Even though I knew there was nothing he could possibly say that would make this all okay, I listened to his stupid apology. It changes nothing.” To accentuate her point, Tess flopped over in her bed, giving Mo her back.

“But isn’t a dashing prince who loves you to pieces what you have always dreamed about? Are you going to give up your chance at a fairy tale ending because of this misunderstanding?”

Mo’s tone sounded rational, but Tess couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Turning to face her friend and sitting up in bed, she spluttered. “Misunderstanding?!? He sought me out and tried to woo me for my brothers’ money. There’s nothing to misunderstand there,” she huffed.

“Perhaps before they met us, that was their plan,” Mo admitted before going on, “But as soon as they did, they changed their minds. At that time, Pierce was intended to be the next in line for the throne. He chose me, and I don’t have any wealthy brothers,” she pointed out logically.

“How do you know that wasn’t part of their manipulative plan all along?” Tess’s eyes flashed with anger. “Perhaps switching to have Sebastian step up and accept his rightful place on the throne was what they intended from the beginning.”

“Well, then, why would they have admitted what they did––especially in front of your brothers? That move guaranteed that they won’t see a dime from your family.”

Mo’s words made complete sense, but Tess didn’t want to admit it. Flopping back down onto her bed, she said, “It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s probably downstairs dancing the night away with another wealthy heiress that he’s hoping to scam out of a fortune to bail out his flailing kingdom.”

“Actually, he had several lovely women approach him to request a dance, but he turned them all away.” Leaving Tess with that tidbit, Mo went into her bathroom to change out of her formalwear.

It doesn’t make any difference, Tess mumbled stubbornly to herself. She was surprised to hear that Sebastian hadn’t quickly moved on. After all, he was supposed to be finding a bride at this ball. Making the decision that he probably was biding his time, hoping that she would come around and offer up her brothers’ financial assistance, she turned over and tried to go to sleep.

The mental image of Sebastian sitting alone in the ballroom, turning away eligible women wouldn’t go away, no matter how much she tried to banish it from her mind. She was justified in her anger, and she firmly refused to let it go.

Her subconscious must have been more forgiving than her alert mind because she dreamed that night of a grand royal wedding, where she was the bride and Sebastian was the handsome groom.

Waking up with a gigantic grin on her face, reality quickly swept in and stole her giddy euphoria. “Hmph. Not going to happen,” she said out loud, not caring if she woke up Mo, who was snoring loud enough to raise the rafters.

In a snit, Tess began tossing her belongings into her suitcase to go home.